Dan Miller has been a faithful Sheboygan County Fair attendee for 30-plus years.

It isn't the fair food, grandstand events, 4-H exhibits or carnival rides that draw the 49-year-old Appleton resident to the Plymouth fairgrounds year after year. Miller goes to the fair to earn his paycheck, which he does by owning and operating carnival games.

"It's a business," Miller said. "There's a lot of fun though too."

Miller owns three games that are set up in front of the Ferris wheel at this year's fair. Fair-goers can try their hand at shooting a basketball into a hoop, throwing darts at balloons pinned to a wall or knocking over three stacked PVC pipes with a baseball to win a prize.

Margaret Frehler of Appleton, her son Daniel Miller and her grandson Stephen Miller pose by a game booth Friday August 29, 2014 in Plymouth. The three generations have been involved in the carnival business for years. (Photo: Gary C. Klein/Sheboygan Press Media)

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Miller refers to himself as "self-employed," but many will call him a carnie.

"If someone wants to say 'carnie,' I don't care," he said. "Some people look down on it, but it don't bother me one bit."

"There's bad apples everywhere," he added. "But these people out here, they work hard. It's not the greatest of living conditions sometimes, but they work hard."

The fair game business is something Miller knows well. He began operating his first fair games when he was young, helping his mother and stepfather with their business.

The youngest of seven siblings, Miller is one of four who is still involved in the carnival business. Two of his sisters are operating game booths at the Sheboygan County Fair as well.

His mother's parents started the family tradition. Margaret Frehler, Miller's mother, said her mom and dad would pack up her and her two siblings and they'd travel from state to state, sleeping on a makeshift bed in their family car at night.

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Dan Miller of Appleton sits at his game booth at the Sheboygan County Fair Friday in Plymouth.(Photo: Gary C. Klein / Sheboygan Press Media)

"It's just one big, busy, busy time traveling all over, but we enjoyed it," 83-year-old Frehler said. She traveled to Plymouth from Appleton on Thursday to spend time with her son before he heads south for work next week.

A majority of Miller's year is spent traveling to fairs, festivals or church/company picnics with his games. He started this year's season in February in Florida and then gradually made his way north. He's been in Wisconsin since the beginning of June.

Miller is oftentimes the sole operator of his games, but as he gets he's starting to hire more help, he said.

For the Sheboygan County Fair, he recruited his 24-year-old son, Stephen, and some of his son's friends to help him operate his games.

He even got his mother to fill in for a bit on Thursday as well.

"Yesterday he needed me to work the basketball," Frehler said Friday. "I was there for two minutes and I brought in a little bit of money."

With 30 years under his belt, Miller knows the best spots at the Sheboygan County Fair.

"I always check the whole fair out," he said. "My favorite spot is under the grandstand. I go get my massages (located there) every year for the last I don't know how many years."

In 30 years, Miller said not much has changed with the fair — not even the people in some instances.

"I meet a lot of new people every year and I see a lot of the same ones too," he said. "I get a lot of repeat customers. They recognize me and I recognize them — especially if they spend a lot of money. You always recognize them."

Miller said it's a tough lifestyle being a carnie — being on the road for most months out of the year, being away from family and sometimes only making enough money to barely make ends meet.

But it's a job that he said he'll likely never quit.

"I'll probably be out here 'til the day I die," Miller said. "It's what I know."